Alliance for Potato Research & Education (APRE):
Potatoes important source of dietary fibre
Lead author Maureen Storey, president and CEO of APRE, and colleague Patricia Anderson compared mean dietary fibre intakes among children and adolescents (2-19 years) and adults (20+ years) across sex, age, race/ethnicity, family income and percentage of poverty threshold using data from the 2009-2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). They found that consumption of dietary fibre was far below recommended intake levels for all age groups, with mean intakes of 13.7 g/day among children and adolescents and 17.1 g/day among adults.
Storey and Anderson also reported significant differences in dietary fibre intake among other population groups. Males aged 2-19 years (14.4 g/day) and 20+ years (18.7 g/day) consumed more dietary fibre than females aged 2-19 years (13.0 g/day) and 20+ years (15.6 g/day). Non-Hispanic black adults consumed less dietary fibre compared to all other race/ethnic groups. Lower family income (<$24,999/year) and living at less than 131 percent of poverty were also associated with lower dietary fibre intakes among adults.
To increase dietary fibre intake in the United States, Storey and Anderson suggested that federal and local government policies should encourage consumption of all vegetables, including white potatoes.
Read the entire study at Nutrition Research.